That which is “indeed important”…

Okay, I do have to say something about this because it is so dominating everything about our culture right now. And, given the age group, the “generation” I belong to, I have to share my thoughts on this…for whatever they are worth.

On my facebook page, I linked to a video by Michael Jackson for his song “Childhood”. This song made me cry. Right before watching this video, I watched another video where he spoke about his childhood – or lack therof – and how different and painful it was. I wrote the following on my facebook page:

Okay, I just watched this [attached video] and it made me cry. Mike was…ummm….eccentric? Yeah, that’s a good word…but when you think about it, and listen to him talk about his life, he didn’t have a life. Not like we do. We think his life was fabulous – fame, fortune, etc…but when I listen to this, I hear him saying he would trade it all to be able to have memories of school, friends, etc…We benefited from his musical genius and how fabulous he was as an entertainer. But WOW – he had some serious pain…which led to some of the more – er, eccentric – things he did. Not to excuse him – but to understand…

I guess what I’m seeing here is that – those things we as a culture aspire to – that fame, fortune, power, prestige – are in the end so very empty. Kind of reminds me of what is indeed important.

Michael Jackson was a part of my youth – I grew up with Michael plastered on my walls – my first adolescent crush. But oh, the price he paid to be that crush…

Michael Jackson hit his highest point of popularity around the same time I hit puberty. “Thriller” was the only thing I listened to for a long time – so much so that I snapped the tape I had of the album, and then fought with my brother about listening to the LP (ahhhh, vinyl!) until my poor parents couldn’t stand it anymore and bought me my own copy! I watched MTV every hour on the hour when the video for “Thriller” came out and memorized the entire dance sequence (and yes, I can still do it!!). I was, well, a big fan…understatement of the year…

I can look back on that time and crack up at how silly I was. Looking at his life from a different vantage point though gives me pause to consider more deeply the things I mentioned in that facebook post. Things much weightier than getting the next issue of  Tigerbeat with the new poster for my wall…

My geeky, philosophical self starts pondering things of deeper and greater signficance – like, how can someone who seemingly “had it all” become such a reclusive, sad, tragic figure? Well, because he didn’t “have it all” after all…he didn’t have that which truly matters. Ecclesiastes 5:15 says the following:

Naked a man comes from his mother’s womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand.

I recognize that none of the accolades, achievements or honors mean much in the end. He cannot take them with him, and he cannot point to them when he stands before the Lord. They didn’t even bring him peace while he was alive. I am grateful for the common grace that was bestowed upon him in the enormous talent he had and how he shared it with the world. And, since I do not know him,  I will not begin to imply I know his heart…but, what I am saying is I must keep all his earthly accolades in proper perspective – in the end, they profit him nothing.

How depressing, right?

But, can we be serious in how we contemplate his death? Or even Farrah Fawcett’s death…or Ed McMahon’s death…or any other famous person who dies? Or any person period who dies? What about the nine people who died in the transit accident in Washington DC? Or the men and women who are dying in the protests in Iran? Or in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? What is the true hope? What is the one thing that would bring meaning to any of these things? What truly profits us in the end?

It is only knowing that when we depart from this life we enter the presence of the Living God – that we are present with the Lord. So what is “indeed important”? Living a life that pleases God – which means, first and foremost recognizing that Christ alone is our hope for salvation. His death is the atonement for our sin against a holy God. His resurrection gives us hope for eternal glory with God…but only if we call on Him in repentance and faith and place our trust, our hope, our faith in Him and Him alone.

That is what is “indeed important”…

I just have to say something…

I can’t keep silent forever!!

And today is such an important day in the life of our nation. Today we swear in our next president. And this particular Inauguration is huge because of the person we are swearing in. We will have our first Black president.

Now, I will be the first to say that our focus on Barack Obama borders on obsession. I can only speak for myself, though, when I say that much of what I feel in my heart is not so much about Obama the man, but the fact that our country has progressed to the point that swearing in a Black man for president is even possible. As a Black woman, this is significant to me.

But, I do want to say one thing here. There has been great debate about Obama’s choice of Rick Warren and Bishop Gene Robinson to participate in the ceremony. Many are dismayed that Obama wishes to make this the “most inclusive Inauguration” in American history. We Christians flip out when we hear stuff like that. But let me be a bit provocative here and pose a few questions…

I came across this blog the other day in which the author quoted one of our Founding Fathers laying out the reasons why he feels government should not declare religious holidays or memorials. I will not quote it here, because it is quite lengthy. But the gist of James Madison said is that in doing this, we confuse the “distinct purposes and roles of Church and State”, and in doing so, can do harm to both. I highly encourage you to read it – it’s good stuff.

But for the purposes of what I want to say here, I will highlight one point:

They seem to imply and certainly nourish the erronious idea of a national religion. The idea just as it related to the Jewish nation under a theocracy, having been improperly adopted by so many nations which have embraced [Christianity], is too apt to lurk in the bosoms even of Americans, who in general are aware of the distinction between religious & political societies. The idea also of a union of all to form one nation under one Gov[ernmen]t in acts of devotion to the God of all is an imposing idea. But reason and the principles of the [Christian] religion require that all the individuals composing a nation even of the same precise creed & wished to unite in a universal act of religion at the same time, the union ought to be effected thro’ the intervention of their religious not of their political representatives. In a nation composed of various sects, some alienated widely from others, and where no agreement could take place thro’ the former, the interposition of the latter is doubly wrong:

 

And so, with that said (or should I say, quoted), I say this: I believe that it is a confusion of kingdoms to offer prayers during the Inauguration. It too closely aligns the cause of Christ with the cause of the State…and this to me is dangerous.

I’m just going to put my cards on the table here: I do not believe that America is or has ever been a “Christian nation”. This does not negate the fact that many of our Founding Fathers were indeed Christians themselves, and their Christian convictions guided them as they formed our government. But this does not automatically translate to our being a Christian nation as such, or imply that we have some special status before the Lord. Yes, God has indeed blessed America in profound ways. But again, to imply that this means that we are somehow marked out in the same way as, say, Israel as a chosen nation is simply incorrect.

The civil religion that Madison alluded to in the above quote is the very reason why we struggle so when this type of issue pops up. We have never been a Christian nation; we were founded on the principle that government cannot dictate how we are to believe. What we see today is the natural outcome of that principle – for good and for ill. We cannot in one breath say that we believe in religious liberty and then in the next decry the inclusion of other voices in the public square. This is hypocritical. While we must, as Paul did, invoke our citizenship when we are silenced, we cannot assume that we are right to silence other voices in the same way they seek to silence us. This is wrong-headed, and in my view detrimental to the message we should be spreading.

Hear me clearly on this: I am not saying that we should not pray for our nation, or participate in government or anything of the sort. I am simply concerned to be mindful of which kingdom America belongs to. The fate of God’s kingdom and purposes do not rest in the fate of America; likewise, although we as Christians are citizens of both kingdoms, and should seek the good of the earthly kingdom to which we belong, our future lies in the Kingdom of God, not the kingdom of this world. What kingdom shall we ascribe allegience to – the temporal kingdom of this world, or the kingdom of our Lord? They are not one and the same…

The White Horse Inn is devoting this year to considering the relationship between Christ and culture, and in fact discussed Augustine’s City of God and walked through this very topic in their program this past Sunday. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about this in the future as I work through this in my mind. But as I take in the sights and sounds of the Inauguration today, I can do so with joy in my heart in seeing that we have indeed progressed in America that we can swear in a Black man for president – and at the same time pray (as I am commanded in the Word to do) for that president and our leaders that they make wise decisions for the future of our nation…

Peace in Christ…

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” – Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV

The reality of the message of Ephesians 2:1-10 is overwhelming – Paul reminds us that we were once enemies of God, “objects of wrath” because of our sinfulness. We were dead in sins and trespasses. But because of God’s lavish grace, we were made alive in Christ – and there was not one thing we could do or can do to earn this grace, this pardon if you will. It was given to us, bought with the blood of Christ, so that we might be God’s children, seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. I could write an entire dissertation on these ten verses! But I’ll move on…

Usually, this is where the teaching ends – but the last half of chapter 2 is just as rich and radical as the first. Paul starts this second train of thought with “therefore”. My training in precept inductive study has conditioned me whenever I see a “therefore” to ask what it’s there for. What is Paul saying? Therefore – because of – what he has previously explained. Because we were once dead in our sins, objects of wrath that are now miraculously made new, made alive in Christ through no effort of our own, how are we to live? How shall we respond?

Paul seeks to explain how this peace we have with Christ extends to peace with one another. He reminds the Gentiles in the church at Ephesus that before Christ they were outside the fellowship of God’s people Israel. (By the way, unless you are Jewish, you’re a Gentile). But because of Christ’s finished work, Gentiles are now members of the same body as the Jews; Christ has made the two one.

In order to understand the force of this, you must understand the hostility that existed between Jew and Gentile at that time. Let’s just say they did not like one another…and to consider Jews and Gentiles as members of the same body was breathtakingly radical! But Paul says clearly:

“For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.” (vv. 14-16)

Now, if we are to take this word seriously, we must see the implications of this to our own situation. The hostility that existed between Jew and Gentile is no less than what we see in our own society. Ethnic strife is nothing new; but God has translated believers into a new reality, one that breaks down these walls of hostility that exist between us in the world. The community of the King is one of every tribe, tongue and nation – and we are all one body in Him. Christ’s body is not divided.

This reality – that we are all one, that there is “one new man” as Paul words it – should give us pause to consider how we do and do not live into this reality in our present situation. The Kingdom is here – yet the Kingdom is still coming. How shall we live each day one step closer to reality of the Kingdom? How does our new life in Christ and in His body change the way we view other aspects of our lives?

I’ll leave you with these thoughts…for now…

Blessings. 

Putting on the New Self

I am reading an awesome book called Being Human: The Nature of Spiritual Experience. A few quotes from the book seem very appropriate to what I wrote about in the previous entry:

“Putting on new patters of life means, very simply, that we should begin to think about others.” – p. 97

“As Christians it is out privilege and responsibility to be the new humanity, a new race, separated from the society around us – separated by the quality of life we are living not by removing ourselves.” – p. 98, emphasis mine

Something to chew on for a bit…

What’s this about Christian Music?

I read the most interesting post the other day on the Parchment and Pen blog. C. Michael Patton explained why he doesn’t like Christian music. A few days later he elaborated in another entry. I had to laugh when I read these posts, and quite frankly, I almost shed a tear. Not because I was offended, but because I wanted to give that guy a hug and a hearty “Amen, brothah!”

This is why…

In his first post, Patton explained, “I just don’t like the Christian mentality that Christians must create Christian subcultures in order to be truly Christian”. The disengagement from the larger culture is what concerns him the most. In his second blog on the subject he wrote:

“…when we demonize all of God’s creation in a gnostic like I-don’t-care-about-this-world-since-it-is-going-to-hell-in-a-hand-basket type mentality, we concede God’s creation to other’s who do not recognize Him for the greatness of all of creation, culture included.”

All I can do is shake my head and think of course! Yes! It’s so clear…so logical…why don’t we get this? To be sure, being in but not of the world is a tall and difficult order. But totally separating ourselves from the world around is not the answer. As Patton says: “How can we be missional when we are totally disengaged?” To glorify God within the context of our culture as opposed to separate from it is what I believe we are called to do.

I’m not here to repeat what Patton said – check out his blog. I just felt the need to stand in solidarity with my maverick brother. He has said a mouthful, and a truth mouthful at that.

When I first became a Christian I did exactly what he is talking about – I immersed myself in the Christian subculture. I decided that all secular music was of the devil. I boxed up all my CDs, got rid of all my secular books and vowed to never listen to anything but Christian music, read nothing but Christian books, and watch nothing but Christian TV (that can be quite dangerous, but that is another blog topic altogether!). I was convinced that this was the road to purity of body, soul and mind. I knew I would conquer sin and be an awesome witness by vowing these things.

But here was the problem: I lost touch with the world. And I don’t mean with “the world” in terms of this worldly system that is opposed to Christ. I mean, I lost touch with those around me who did not know Christ. I lost touch with what it felt like to live without Christ in my life, and lost the ability to relate to those who did not understand what I was talking about when I would speak about the Lord. I lost the ability to share the Gospel in a language that could be understood by those who did not know.

I also lost touch with myself. I lost who I was, I lost my personality, my loves and passions. And I am convinced that when I did that, I ceased glorifying God with my life. It is in the proper exercising of those loves and passions, in the proper embracing of the personality God has given that we truly glorify Him. Being truly human…this is how we glorify our Lord.

What is the “proper exercising of loves and passions” – it is doing so in a way that reflects the image of the Son…and seeking this end is the lifelong ambition of our lives. But we cannot achieve this by seeking to move ourselves away from the world. Our Lord prayed for us:

“I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.” – John 17:15 ESV

Let this be always be our prayer.